Philippine E-Journals

ANALYZING WAR EXPERIENCES OF COMBAT SOLDIERS IN THE MARAWI SIEGE USING FIELD THEORY

Christoper F Sasot

 

Abstract:

The study presents a perspective for the analysis of war experiences, particularly through the war soldier’s habitus. Bourdieu’s Field theory, helped in understanding the factors that affected the survival through the concepts of field, cultural capital and habitus. Habitus, in particular, focused on the psychosocial aspects of the soldiers. Data came from the three combat soldiers who had private as ranks and were deployed in Marawi City. They were part of the first batch of reinforcement sent to rescue soldiers who were ambushed by the extremist group. The study emphasizes the way in which the cultural capital, power relations, and dispositions that forms habitus represent war experiencesand affected the practice of killing, and survival.